Shameless self promotion, I posted the first chapter of the peyna story that I mentioned a couple chapters ago, if you're interested check it out. the title is The Roman Way.

So here's the next chapter.

Luke's point of view

During the head councilor's meeting, it was decided that I would be helping to train the campers in swordsmanship along with a son of Athena. Nico di Angelo had retired to the city along with his husband Will Solace.  I suppose it made sense for me to help teach swordplay since I'm the son of the god of swordsmanship.  During the first class where I helped, I took some of the campers to instruct them, and Michael, the son of Athena who took over sword classes after Nico stopped teaching, took the others.

Both groups separated into pairs, and we gave them instructions on how they could improve. I'm not sure how high our chances in this war really are considering what we are up against, sure I heard that the minor gods were going to help but we are up against primordials we will need all the help we can get.

We all trained hard, we had to, campers who usually focused on one weapon that they were good with tried to learn other weapons as well. Common reasons to do this were that they would have something else to use in case they were disarmed, or for those who usually use bows in case they ran out of arrows.

We were all nervous as the date of the war drew nearer, but you can't exactly blame us considering what we will be up against. Due to the fact that we were training harder than usual, we didn't have as much time to spend with friends, but better we train hard than end up losing the friends we do have.

Every once in a while I would think about the prophecy and wonder what the lines meant, it has become clear to me that you can never really understand prophecies until the events they describe take place. That's why they make you worry so much,  you consider possible meanings for them in your head afraid of what they really mean.

Some parts of the prophecy were beginning to make more sense, for instance, the line about a new war was obvious enough since the war had pretty much started. The part about the sky and sea's rage could mean either my grandfather or Pontus or Thalassa, basically, it could be any god whose domain was the sea.

The only logical person for the sky in that line was Zeus. the other lines weren't clear yet, who was the enemy that would escape? I suppose it could be Zeus, but for some reason, I felt like it wasn't him. the last line probably wouldn't make sense until the war was over since it spoke of a new age after the war was won.  No matter what happens I'm going to fight my hardest since we can't afford to lose.

Zoe's Point of view

I went with my sister to try and convince Zeus to stay out of the war, We both knew that this wouldn't be an easy task. For one, Zeus was angry at the Olympian council for unseating him and obviously wants revenge.  Secondly, he obviously won't recognize us. We will have to tell him who we are, and hopefully, he won't ask who our parents are.  It's best we don't tell him that since once he knows he definitely won't listen to us because I'm guessing he hates our father the most.

We had discussed how we would go about it before we left so we could only hope things would go according to plan. My main concern was if Emily said something that she probably shouldn't.  she sometimes speaks without thinking and considering that if she doesn't like you she'll say it without any second thoughts, this could definitely end badly.

We went to where we knew Zeus was, and sure enough there he was, at that moment he had his back to us, but he obviously sensed our presences once we arrived because he turned to face us.  He spoke first saying, "Who are you? I can tell you are minor goddesses, but I don't recall ever seeing you before."

I replied, "I am the minor goddess of trust, and my sister is the minor goddess of honesty. We have come to tell you that you cannot side with the primordials."

He replied, "I already have, I will get my revenge. Perseus had no right...." He went into a rant about my dad and the other Olympians.

I shook my head before saying, "You cannot trust them, they are lying to you. What they have told you about their plans is false."

"You're lying!" he said getting annoyed now.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and said, "I do not, I am the goddess of trust, I can tell when someone is trustworthy or not."

Emily spoke up for the first time since we got here, she said, My sister is telling the truth, The primordials are lying to you. They intend to use you to carry out their own plans, anything they may have promised you they will not follow through on."

We were about to leave when he asked, "Who are your parents? I know that you aren't mine."

I replied, "That doesn't matter, it's the war that's important. consider what you are doing," After that statement, we left leaving Zeus to think about what we had said.

I hoped that what we had said would get through his thick skull, but we really didn't know how things would turn out. After we left Zeus where he was we went to inform our dad of how our encounter with Zeus had gone. Once we told him he called a meeting to discuss our next move.

During the meeting, my father mentioned that he might be able to get one more ally. I'm pretty sure that the only ones in the room who guessed who he meant were me, Emily, our mom, and our grandfather Poseidon. I guessed that he was referring to the titan Bob.

After the last war, our dad had tracked him down because he wanted to thank him for everything he had done for him. since Bob helped in the last war, my dad probably figured that he would most likely be willing to help us again. My dad was explaining that to everyone who hadn't already guessed who he meant.

After he finished his explanation the three primordials that were helping us appeared along with a man that I sensed was even more powerful than they were. I guessed based on his appearance that he was Chaos. We all bowed to him.  After that he stepped forward and spoke, he said, "I have decided that since Perseus became king, you have done a far better job of ruling, I will help you since the primordial's time of ruling has passed and I disagree with the actions my children have taken.

We were all rather surprised at this, but obviously, we were pleased, we might actually have a chance with him on our side. He was going to act like he hadn't allied himself with us until the battles started, then he would help us. His help might just be enough to make sure we win this war. Our moods were once again dampened, however, when he revealed what the primordials planned on using for their distraction.

Their plan was to release Typhon, so the Olympians would have to fight him leaving the demigods to fend for themselves, but considering the number of allies we had made the demigods. wouldn't be alone, and the Olympians might be able to defeat Typhon faster than he was last time.

This will still be a hard war, but we might actually have a chance at winning. If Zeus actually uses his head and remains neutral, that would just make things easier. I'm starting wonder if Zeus actually has a brain, I wonder how he would even have room for one with that huge ego of his.

I may not have been here when Zeus was king, but I have heard enough stories to understand why he wasn't a good king. It is clear that my father has done a much better job, sure the Olympians still argue a lot, but that doesn't mean that they don't get what they are supposed to be doing done.

I think my dad is a bit overprotective of Emily, and me despite the fact that we are goddesses, I guess I couldn't really blame him, he never really got to be a part of our brother's life until Luke was twelve, so I now understood that dad had wanted to spend every moment with us he could. Due to the fact that as we grew up we spent most of our time in our dad's undersea palace, we had ended up being quite close to our grandparents and uncles.

We have only ever met our mom's mother once, that's because she is a mortal, and she and our mom don't really get along. We'd heard that after our parents married, our mom had lied to her and told her that they had eloped to avoid telling her why she hadn't been invited to the wedding. Now my grandmother is getting quite old, and she will most likely die soon.

Due to that things are hard for our mom at the moment since even though they didn't get along she still cares about her. with the war on top of that, well things aren't easy for her right now. We are all trying to help her through it as much as we can,  but since we didn't know her as well as our mom did, it doesn't bother us as much. We can't know how things will turn out, but hopefully, everything will be okay once the war ends and we will finally have peace that lasts more than a few years.